Avoiding the Draft - Reasons? Or Excuses?

Charedi Anti-draft protest from 2022 (TOI)

What do Neturei Karta, Satmar, Agudah, and the Lithuanian Yeshiva world have in common? Well…a great deal it seems with respect to the state of Israel. This was made abundantly clear in an article by one Dovid Kornreich in his Times of Israel explanation of those views. 

Although he claims that his opinions are his alone and do not necessarily reflect those of his community, he concedes that his views were shaped by his ‘long-term and deep immersion in the Haredi Israeli yeshiva world’. 

Despite his disclaimer I would suggest that his views are the mainstream Charedi view. And that as an Israeli Mechanech I’m sure he has disseminated them to his many students over the years.

Truth is I am not all that surprised by his attitude. Nor do I even argue that they are all that unreasonable. But I am nevertheless disgusted by - among other thigs - how he uses those views to defend Charedi exemptions from the army. (More about that later.)

To see how closely his views mimic those of Neturei Karta, let me briefly restate them. First he believes that the Jewish people would be far better off if there was no Jewish state. And certainly  not worth sacrificing a single Jewish life in order to have one. A Jewish state requires a standing Jewish army that inevitably causes many Jewish casualties. A  Jewish state has generated terrorism and death to many innocent civilian Jews. It has caused a great deal of antisemitism worldwide. 

The creation of a Jewish state has caused a great many indigenous Arabs to leave their homes and flee into refugee camps. Now living under an oppressive occupation . Which increases the enmity and condemnation of the world and generates even more terrorism, death, and destruction.  To Kornreich the existence of a secular Jewish state has no redemptive value which means all of the Jews living there are nonetheless considered living in  Galus (exile) anyway. 

Kornreich  then lists an an entire litany of ‘sins’  of the founding fathers that would never have happened if there were no Jewish state. Sins that included murder and disabusing many Jews of observance in its early years.

Why, he asks should Charedim feel any obligation to join the military of a country they believe shouldn’t even exist? A country that murders its own Jews? A country  that has brought so much pain and suffering upon all the Jewish people? - The latest of which happened last October 7^th? Had there been no Zionist state, October 7^th would have never happened.  

Kornrecih says that Charedim place no value on secular cultural achievements like winning sports teams or winning talent competitions like Eurovision. Those are  certainly not worth a single Jew dying for.

I’m not sure I explained all of his problems with the Zionist state, but this is certainly a nice selection of them. (It’s worth reading the entire article to get it all.) In light of all this Kornreich makes the following assertion: 

So while it may be impossible to turn back the clock and pretend that the Jews of Israel today can live as a minority in peaceful co-existence with the Arabs under majority Arab rule, the burden of maintaining Jewish sovereignty by dint of constant military preparedness shouldn’t be put at the feet of those who never did, and never will, choose violence to achieve nationalistic aims.

This is the historical perspective that I believe is necessary to understand the principled refusal of Haredim to enlist in the IDF. 

One might notice that these are almost the identical views of Neturei Karta and Satmar. The only difference is how to deal with it. He does not go so far as  joining Palestinian protestors. Or praising  Iran’s Supreme Leader as a holy man with great religious values. But does cite those views to excuse himself and his fellow Charedim from joining the army. That was the entire purpose of his article.

Like I said, I get his point of view even though I am in profound disagreement with him. 

To Kornreich, Israel has no value. It does not seem to occur to him that the state of Israel provided a haven for Holocaust refugees that were stranded in European DP camps with no where else to go.

Perhaps more significantly in his case, Kornreich made Aliyah. I would be wiling to bet that he took full advantage of everything the Zionist government that he thinks shouldn’t exist – gave him. He also benefits from the protection those Zionists provide for him and his community. Benefits that include funding the Yeshivos he values so much. 

He expresses no Hakoras HaTov - no gratitude whatsoever - for that. Expresses no recognition of the virtual explosion of Limud HaTorah that would never have happened had there not been a Zionist state that built the modern conveniences expected of the modern world. I doubt for example that the vast majority of Bnei Torah raised in the modern world have come to study in Israel if it did not build the infrastructure for indoor plumbing,

He feels absolutely no responsibility to participate in a state he believes should not exist regardless of how much he and his community benefits from it.  

Nor does he express the slightest bit of compassion for the families that have lost sons or daughters in combat. While he sits and learns in relative safety. To Kornreich Zionists are a bunch of anti religious murderers who created a state that should not exist and therefore does not deserve anything from him. 

I am appalled by his lack of recognition of what the Zionist state has done for him and the Yeshiva world he inhabits. I am disgusted by his lack of gratitude. And even more disgusted by his excuses for allowing others to fight and die for him.

I would suggest that Kornreich get on his high horse and ride right on - out of town. He can take his fellow travelers with him. If they don’t think the modern state of Israel should exist, they shouldn’t be there taking advantage of it.